M3RC3D3SE55AMG

So, I thought I would create a thread to showcase the process and progress of the sound system upgrades which I'm currently performing on my car. Perhaps it will help people in the future wishing to do the same. I'm in hopes that this thread also attracts opinions from experienced MBWorld members, so we can further solidify the best avenues for sound system upgrades in W210's.

Stage One

I bought my E55 (a Japanese import) with OE Mercedes speakers all round and a dated but fully loaded Pioneer Carrozzeria AVIC system and JVC head-unit installed. The Carrozzeria was a Japanese spec TV/DVD/Sat-Nav/Handsfree/HDD system. Unbelievably feature packed! However, since I neither read or understand Japanese, I spent some time researching about the reprogramming of the Carrozzeria features: language, Sat-Nav maps etc, only to find out it is not at all possible This information came from several sources, including Pioneer themselves. The only option I had was to remove this great multi-functional system and start from scratch. Even the JVC unit was useless, due to radio frequency response being different in Japan

So, the new field of research became head-units, and fully loaded ones at that. I felt so frustrated that I had to bin the Carrozzeria, that my goal was to find a new unit which at least equaled, if not bettered what the car came with. The other criteria the unit had to meet was being single-DIN. I can tell you it wasn't easy finding a fully loaded single-DIN head-unit. There isn't much call for these anymore it seems, the majority of fully loaded units sold, due to modern vehicle specs I assume, are double-DIN. I think the fact that single-DIN's at the spec I required have motor operated retractable screens, is looked at as a possible mechanical failure point long term and is therefore less desirable.

Anyway, after many phone calls and days spent searching online, I finally came across what was a yet to be released Pioneer head-unit, the AVH-7550BT. This unit had all the features I wanted, AND it was a single-DIN fitment The problem though, it wasn't due for release for another month in my region. Now, in my job I gain good contacts for many things, so I made a few calls to see if I could get a this new Pioneer unit pre-release. I ended up speaking to a guy who was able to source a unit for me, as they were in the country, just not released yet

I picked up the AVH-7550BT the day after the call and fitted it that very same day. The fitting of the new unit took about a sixth of the time it took to remove the Carrozzeria system! The Carrozzeria having a hard drive, antenna's, CD/DVD drive, and worst of all, the wiring to remove, was completely insane!

With the AVH-7550BT in place, including the driver side A-pillar located mic for the Bluetooth handsfree feature, and a glovebox located female USB connector for iPod control, the the new Pioneer as ready to go

M3RC3D3SE55AMG

Stage Two:

Running the new Pioneer head-unit for a couple of months, I noticed the tell-tale signs of blown speakers. The driver side front, and both rear shelf speakers had gone. However, the rear door speakers seemed fine. Knowing I needed to change the blown speakers, I began to research options on non-OE direct replacements. After reading up on quality and compatibility etc I decided to purchase the following:

Front Doors - Focal 165 A1 SG - 2 way 165mm (6.5") component
Rear Doors - Focal 130 CA1 SG - 2 way 130mm (5.25") coaxial

The front door speakers were basically a straight swap for the OE units. The tweeters were fitted into the door mounted moulds at the base of the windows. The the crossovers were set to -3dB for the tweeters, sealed and mounted behind the door-cards.

Now, even though the rear door speakers were not blown, I decided to upgrade them anyway, to keep my system "balanced" in quality and capability etc. These were more complicated to fit than the fronts and a little fabrication was required. This was due to a direct replacement for the rear doors needing to be a 4" speaker, and I chose a 5" for a fuller sound.

I ended up cutting the OE rear door speakers out of the OE plastic directional moulds, drilling a tap for the speaker screws to tighten into, therefore allowing me to mount the 5" speakers without having any door-card or window glass clearance issues, and giving a great seal for sound quality.

*** For now, the other damaged speakers, being the rear shelf units, I've unplugged. This is preventing them from polluting what is a great sound from what has been fitted so far. Stage Three will have the rear shelf filled with something very special. Watch this space ***

marroquin38

Looking good. Do you think a 6 3/4" speaker will fit on there?

M3RC3D3SE55AMG

Thanks for the compliment! In reference to your question, I would be inclined to say no. I think the basket of the speaker would hit the OE mould before the speaker lip with the screw holes had chance to. To fit a 6.75" speaker in the back doors would need some real custom fabrication work. The magnet would sit deeper in the door too no doubt, due to the increased speaker size. So that could lead to clearance issues.

It's time to get your door card off and a tape measure out to check the numbers

M3RC3D3SE55AMG

Noticed some cracking and popping in the rear left door speaker last night I'll get into some fault checking and try to work out if it's a wiring issue, head-unit amp/channel problem, or simply a faulty speaker. We'll soon know for sure. I'm hoping it's just a wiring issue, since the head-unit is almost brand new and the rear speakers are brand new

armaniE55

Nice set up thus far! When I had a E430 I went with the same set up. For now I'm running a 500/1 JLAudio amp w/1 12" kicker in a small non ported box. All while being connected to my stock radio. Sounds amazing.... but me thinks in the spring time I'll go all in well a least a nicer DVD head unit with stock BOSE amp/speakers. Plus steering volume adapter/IPOD/Bluetooth.

btw : are those stock fog lamps?

Armanie

M3RC3D3SE55AMG

So you have a JL Audio mono-block powering a Kicker sub? Thats an interesting combination! What frequency have you got them set at? I like the steering adapter idea, everything at your fingertips. You have the OE steering control now correct? So its something you need to compensate for when you upgrade the head-unit? Will you buy a single-DIN head-unit? Or work something with a double-DIN?

I spent a while deciding on the route to take for my system, and after looking into the carrying and quality of sound etc, I decided against dropping a sub in the trunk. The fact I didn't want to lose trunk space was a big factor too.

The next stage of my setup will be the amps and subwoofers. I'll be reinforcing the OE rear shelf with a brace, MDF, Dynamat, and dropping two 6.5" subs into the OE speaker ports. The idea is to run an Infinite Baffle subwoofer system, which sends sound directly into the cabin of the vehicle. Nothing "trapped" in the trunk that way. Infinite Baffle is far from a common choice, its difficult to get right, mainly due to the fact that not many brands offer IB capable subwoofers

With living in the UAE as well, I'm having to wait on delivery of my subs. I'll share more info when they arrive and I'll be covering that part of the build on video too, so I'll share that in this thread. The level of fabrication needed for the rear shelf is beyond my skill set, so this work will be outsourced to a company called NeoGlow in Abu Dhabi.

I will have all four doors Dynamatted at the same time as the shelf work. I'm looking to increase the overall sound quality in doing that. Is soundproofing something you've had done also? I'll be having the 13 year old OE speaker wiring removed and replaced with brand new wiring. The final aim is to have a system which will last another 13 years I guess

I'm yet to decide on the amps I'll run. I was going to continue to run the Focal's from the head-unit, but they are such strong speakers, I've decided to get a separate amp for them once the subs are fitted and amped. I'll have a 4 channel amp for the Focal's and a mono-block like you for the subs.

P.S. The fog lamps are OE glass and plastics but the bulbs are a Bosch HID Xenon kit. Very easy to fit! If I remember rightly, its a 6000k one. The kits are easily found online

Solo wing

Good job mate !
So what do u think about the focals ?
I have the
Focal P 165 V15 in the front
&
Focal PC 100 in the rear
Amped by a 4ch + JL Sub
Trust me , the setup puts many home stereos to shame

Cheers.

M3RC3D3SE55AMG

Without sounding biased, I seriously love the Focal's. I'm quite sure mine are entry level units, and if that is the case, I can't believe how well they perform. I don't have the legendary JL subwoofer like you, but these Digital Design subwoofers, for their 6.5" size, are unbelievable in their performance.

People think I have much more installed than just coaxials, components, and 6.5" subs Lol

Solo wing

What kind of 6.5 Subs do u have ?

I agree with you. My reaction when I installed them first without the sub, was
However, I advise you to install a separate sub for two reasons:

1- The components I have, play frequencies from 62 Hz and above, the coaxial will play from 100 Hz and above , so you have to bypass the low frequencies ( 100 and below ) to the Sub.
In order for you to keep the speakers from distorting and blowing up.


2- I'm very fond of their performance in the whole frequency spectrum, However, I always felt that I'm missing something; When I installed the sub the sound is full, in other words it's Alive !

I just wanted a decent, clear and loud system. NOT too Loud where it wakes up the dead

M3RC3D3SE55AMG

Really appreciate your insights here I do actually have an EQ setup similar to what you've recommend already. The 5 channel Phoenix Gold amp (4 x full range channels and 1 x sub mono block channel) has filters set to have 100Hz and up go to the 4 x full range channels (Focal's), with 80Hz and below going to the mono block Subwoofer channel (Digital Design's).

If you read up on the SD 1300.5 you'll see the kind of power it delivers, it's perfect for the setup I'm running. As for the 2 x 6.5" Digital Design subwoofers, their performance is market leading. They are arguably the best performing 6.5" infinite baffle subwoofers you can buy. If you research a little more about them, you'll see at just 6.5" they can out perform 8" and even some 10" subwoofers in an infinite baffle setup. People think I have a boxed 12" subwoofer in the trunk most of the time Lol

I should add, that I have ZERO distortion at volumes which I actually can't even bare to listen to!

M3RC3D3SE55AMG

Stage Three:

With the Focal's all installed, the time had come to upgrade the rear shelf speakers. Here's how the original's were looking:

Speaking to some SQL experts here in the UAE, I was told about these: http://www.ddaudio.com/products/mobi...o/woofers/sw65 - I couldn't find a single bad review about them, so I went ahead and bought/imported these speakers from the U.S. to the U.A.E.

I had to wait a little for them to arrive, but as soon as they did, a friend and I took a drive from Dubai down to Abu Dhabi to have the Digital Design's, Phoenix Gold SD1300.5 amp, and Dynamat fitted. The shop removed all the 13 year old OE speaker wiring and replaced it with upgraded aftermarket oxygen free stuff. They also fabricated custom door housing and refitted the Focal's to give a more solid sound (I will get photos of that and post soon, they fitted the door cards back on before I could get shots taken).

See more photos here: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/m...des-10890.html